I’ve long maintained that Suwon is one of my favorite cities. Maybe it’s my familiarity with the place. And I’ve got some good memories of it, going back all the way to the 80’s when my friend Dave Dovalina and I (neither of us knowing Korean at the time) went there in search of a wall that Dave had heard of. We wandered the streets a while, but didn’t find it. I wish I had, because I’m sure it would have been significantly different than it is now.
I knew Suwon 20 years ago too, when I went to see my first big soccer match. The most I’d seen before that time were just kids games and pickup matches, so it was quite an amazing experience to see the United States beat one of the World Cup favorites, Portugal, at Suwon World Cup Stadium.
In present day, it seems I get up to Suwon every few weeks on the bike. Although my main rides to Seoul run pretty much on either side of it, if I’m going somewhere else north of here, I always seem to find a way back through Suwon if I can. Some time ago, Albert mentioned always wanting to go there, so yesterday, I put together a bit of a tour. We had a great day, all of us at some point noting how perfect one thing or another was.
